1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to decorative lawn ornaments, and more particularly to a lighted Christmas tree lawn ornament.
2. Description of Related Art
Christmas season lawn ornaments, both lighted and unlighted, are well known in the art and are available in many configurations, from Christmas trees to elves to manger scenes to Santa's sleigh and reindeers. The most common types are constructed from plastic and are anchored to the ground with stakes. Many, if not most, are provided with electric lighting for enhanced effect at night. More closely related to the present invention is a pole embedded in the ground having multiple strings of lights strung from the top of the pole and then staked to the ground. This pattern forms a conical shape which resembles a Christmas tree, especially at night when the strings of lights are lit up and neither the pole nor the strings on which the lights are carried are visible. This type of tree typically is found in a commercial or public area, is over ten feet high, and was assembled by professionals. Some homeowners have created this type of tree in their yards. However, because of the time and skill required to make such a tree very few people make this decoration.
There are other disadvantages with this type of lighted Christmas tree. One such disadvantage is the fact that wind may cause the strings of electric lights to whip back and forth causing a fair amount of stress on both the lights and electrical wiring. Staking the light strings tighter to reduce the back and forth "whipping" may reduce that problem, but that creates increased tensile stress in the electrical wire. Another disadvantage with this arrangement is that variation in the appearance of the lighted "tree" are limited. The appearance of the "tree" is limited to vertically converging lines. As a result, the lights are much closer together, and thus appear brighter, at top of the ornament and more spread out and diffuse at the base. Because the spacing of the lights along a particular string of lights is fixed by the manufacturer the distance between lights on this "tree" cannot easily be changed. There are no ornaments or other types of decorations which can be used with this display. Only strings of electric lights are used. As a result, this type of tree is only visually appealing when the illuminated lights are visible
Therefore, there is a need for a new Christmas tree lawn ornament that can be easily assembled by a homeowner, and which permits a greater variety of appearance. Additionally, such a lawn ornament should be able to hold different types of decorations besides electric lights so that the lawn ornament would be appealing in daylight hours as well as after dark.